Fishing line leader reel



' March 24, 1953 J, KI 'BY' 2,632,609

FISHING LINE LEADER REEL Filegl May 12 1951 JOHN' KIRBY mven-roaPatented Mar. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FISHING LINE LEADERREEL John Kirby, Spokane, Wash. Application May 12,1951, Serial No.226,036

1 Claim.

This invention relates to sporting equipment and more particularly to aspring operated fishing line leader reel.-

One object of the invention lies in the provision of a leader reel uponwhich a leader may be wound and stored in a tackle box and thus preventits becoming entangled with the rest of the tackle.

Another object' of the invention lies in the provision of a leader reel,having a casing or housing which encloses a spring operated reel havinga hook for attaching one end of a fishing line leader to be woundthereon for storage.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a leader reelwith a winding knob having a circular rack and a dog to enable one towind the spring in the event the release button is pressed when the reelis empty and the spring becomes unwound as well as to freely rotate thereel for the purpose of bringing the hook in registry with theperipheral opening of the housing to enable hooking a leader thereto.

Another object of the inventionlies in the provision ofa rotatable hubwhich is journaled on one section of the housing and which contains aslot for receiving and securing one end of the reel operating spring.

, Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a spring heldrelease button having latches thereon which engage teeth formed on thereel and releasably secure the hub and the reel together.

Other objects will become apparent during the course of the followingdescription.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, andin which like numerals are employed to designate like parts,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my leader reel.

Figure '2 is a vertical cross section taken through the reel as at line2'-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a vertical cross section taken through the reel on a planeat right angles to Fig. 2, and,

Figure 4, is a perspective view of the rotatable hub of the reel.

My improved leader reel is provided with a housing 5 formed of twocooperating sections 6 and I which join at the transverse peripheralcenter with inturned rim 1' of section I fitting within the peripheralexpression 8 of inturned rim 6 on section B. The ad oining portions ofrims 8' and 1' are cut away at 9 to form a peripheral opening in thehousing and through which a leader may be attached to and wound upon thereel l0.

The reel I is formed of a flat ring ll disposed between spaced discs I2and I 3 which are of a larger diameter and thus form upstanding walls toconfine a leader being wound upon the reel to the peripheral face of thering H. Disc [2 is provided with a relatively large central opening [4which permits leafspring to be inserted within the reel [0. Ring H isprovided with two-circumferentially spaced transversely positioned slots16 and I! and spring [5 is secured at one end to the ring by passing theend thereof outwardly through slot I! and thence back inwardly throughslot IS. A hook I? is pressed or stamped from the ring to secure an endloop I8 of the leader and as spring l5 rotates the reel, the leader iswound upon the reel.

Disc 13 is also provided with a center opening of lesser size thanopening I 4 and is indicated by the numeral l9. This opening is topermit passage of hub 20 therethrough and allow the reel to rotate aboutthe hub. A concentric row of spaced teeth 2| are pressed outwardly fromdisc !3 adjacent the opening [9.

Hub 20 is rotatable within the housing and is journaled on one sectionof the housing by means of a reduced end portion 36 which is formed onone end thereof and which is placed through the opening 3'! of section 6where it is bent outwardly to form a bearing rim and rotatably securethe hub on the housing section 6. A central bore 22 is provided in thehub 20, and this bore is threaded at 23 for a portion of its length. Akerf 24 is formed across the hub on the diameter and the kerf is cutdeeply enough to terminate substantially midway the length of the hub.The kerf 24 is provided to accommodate the spreading arms 25 of releasebutton 26 which protrudes from the open end of the hub 20 apposed to thethreaded and kerfed end.

A hand knob 21 is provided with a reduced and threaded portion whichcooperates with the threads 23 of the bore 22 securing the knob 21 andhub 20 together. A circular rack 28 is provided about the knob, at itsbase, and is positioned on the outer face of one housing section 1 whereit cooperates with a dog 33 also pivoted on the outer face of thehousing section 1. An expansion spring 30 is disposed between the knob21 and the release button 26 to releasably hold the release button inthe reel locking position with the latches 3| or arms 25 disposed inengagement with teeth 2|.

The inner end of spring 15 is secured to hub 20 by passing the endthrough a slot 32 positioned as a chord of the circular hub 20.

Pivotally mounted on the outer face of section 1 is dog 33 which is heldby arouate spring 34 secured to the housing at 35. It will be plainlyseen in Figure 1 that one may grasp the knob 21 and rotate the hub 20and reel l0 clockwise as a unit when the reel is not held by means of aleader or ones finger. The reel may be held as above described and thespring I5 wound by rotating the knob 21.

With the spring [5 Wound, a leader loop I8 is hooked over hook I1 andwhen release button 26 is depressed, reel 10 rotates, winding in theleader, when the leader is sufiiciently wound, the release button 26 isreturned to its normal position, and the reel is locked against rotationby the energy of spring [5. However, clockwise movement of the knob willcause the reel to turn.

When it is desired to remove the leader for connecting to a fishingline, knob 21 is rotated until the free end of the leader may be graspedand the leader is then pulled from the reel and the opposite endunhooked from the hook H.

A hook may be supplied upon the housing to secure the free end of theleader and thus prevent the possibility of it being :down in the housingif one so desires.

Having thus described my invention, I desire to secure by Letters Patentand claim:

In a leader reel the combination with a sectional housing having aperipheral opening, a rotatable reel in the housing, teeth on .the reel,and a spring secured at one end within the reel,

of a rotatable hub in the housing and journaled on one section of saidhousing, a diametric kerf in the hub, a bore in the hub threaded fromthe kerfed end of the hub to a point substantially midway its length, arelease button in the bore and protruding from the end opposed to thethreaded end, spreading arms on said button and in said kerf, opposedlatches on the arms for releasably engaging said teeth, whereby the huband reel may be locked together, a slot in said hub to receive andsecure the other end of said spring, a knob having a reduced andthreaded end portion threaded in said bore, a circular rack on the knob,an expansion spring in the bore between said knob and said releasebutton, and a spring held dog pivoted to one of the housing sections andengaging said rack.

JOHN KIRBY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,415,489 Simpson May 9, 19221,560,919 Unruh Nov. 10, 1925 2,596,648 Bugg et al May 13, 1952 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 60,512 Switzerland June 28, 1912 373,786Great Britain June 2, 1932

